6.5 Barrel Life

[2buffalo]

I am thinking about building a 6.5 rifle. I would like something fast and flat shooting but has a barrel life of 1500-2000 rounds. Thinking of 6.5 PRC, 6.5 Weatherby RPM, or 6.5 SAUM. I will have it built with the same stock, barrel, and action as my 28 Nosler just something I could put more rounds down for range time. I would also be open to other cartridges that people have experience with that may fit the bill. I am not interested in a Creedmoor. I guess my long winded question is what should I expect for barrel life out of these calibers?

 

[deadidarren]

No such thing as fast and Flat 1500 2000 round accurate barrel life as far as I know

 

[Savagehunter1968]

6.5x284 should get you 1500 if you shoot it slow.same with the 6.5 prc.

 

[Another Casual]

From looking at load data, of the ones you have listed the 6.5 PRC has the smallest case capacity. If you stick to H1000 and shoot slowly, I think you could get the barrel life you are looking for from a good cut rifled blank.

6.5 PRC currently has the edge in component availability (or at least in companies making quality brass).

 

[2buffalo]

Thanks for the responses. After the first response I realized I should have worded the question a bit differently.

I should rephrase the question to what's the round count in peoples experience I should expect before seeing accuracy decrease by more than .25" in each cartridge? Fast and flat are relative terms.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Why only a 6.5? I put about 1,600 rounds through my .308win before dropping a borescope down the tube for a look. To my total amazement, the bore looked nearly as good as new with very little firecracking just forward of the chamber,

By contrast, my 6.5 PRC and 30Nosler both look 100X worse with only 500 rds fired. I might add that I do NOT shoot any of my rifles hot and clean them regularly.

 

[2buffalo]

I have a 308 along with 3 other .30's. Just looking for something different.

 

[6.5saum/300rum]

I would go with the 6.5 saum out of the ones on your list. I have over a 1000 rounds on mine and it's still as accurate as when it was new. I shoot h1000 in it and never get it hot so I'm sure that helps. I hope to get over 2000 rounds out of it but time will tell.

 

[P7M13]

Don't know anything about the RPM or SAUM, but your bolt face is perfect with the PRC cartridge.

I went with 6.5 Swede Ackley and may likely convert my 260 Rem to 260 Rem AI.

 

[BallisticsGuy]

It's all about powder volume vs bore diameter. Something like a 6.5CM will have no trouble getting 1800 to 2000 rounds with its mild ~44gr charge weight. If you go up from there in terms of powder charge then you'll shorten barrel life. Any magnum 6.5 (things burning 70-80gr) will be lucky to get to 1300 before the throat is torched. Something like a 6.5-284 will be in between a magnum and a 6.5CM. If you look to something like a 6.5BR then barrel life shoots up to >3k rounds at match grade. Don't expect to get much of a return in terms of velocity from dumping extra powder into the equation. You can see heart stopping velocities with light bullets if flat shooting is a concern, otherwise a 6.5BR will kill medium size game surprisingly far away. If you want really flat shooting and barrel life up in the >2k rounds territory then 6XC is a really great option. It has the shoulder angle and long neck needed to keep the flame intersection point inside the case and out of the throat and it'll launch 115s at 2950fps without being loaded spicy. My experience with 6XC has been over 2k rounds before I see enough throat chasing to be a problem. Your action length may bring you some feeding issues so I would suggest rethinking the whole enterprise with a tighter specification and include the option of replacing the action with something a bit shorter.

 

[jraulsten]

Go with the SAUM. I had over 2000 rounds on my last one and never lost accuracy using H1000 and 140 Elite Hunters.

 

[2buffalo]

Sorry may not have been clear again. I am not replacing my 28 nosler. I am just building another one with identical stock, action, scope. Probably on anti medium rather than long.

 

[2buffalo]

Go with the SAUM. I had over 2000 rounds on my last one and never lost accuracy using H1000 and 140 Elite Hunters.

Did you have to chase the lands to keep the accuracy?

 

[jraulsten]

Did you have to chase the lands to keep the accuracy?

I just started with a .020 jump and never changed it. I have no idea what the actual jump was when I retired the barrel. Wish I would have measured it.